Four years ago, in his last victory at Michigan, Earnhardt worried that he might run out of gas. On Sunday, he worried about everything.

“I was so nervous in the last few laps of that race four years ago, and today, this was the worst--that's the worst feeling riding around there with 15 laps to go wondering what's going to happen or how you were going to lose,” Earnhardt said with a laugh. “I was just thinking, man, those laps could not go by fast enough. I was like 'I've got a big lead, I'm going to take it easy--no, I want to run it hard, get it over with.'

“So I was just in there going crazy, thinking--and I'm looking all around the racetrack hoping there's no debris around the next corner. I just knew I was going to come around the next corner and see a piece of metal lying in the racetrack. I was just waiting on something to happen. So that was terrifying, to be honest with you.”

Ultimately, Earnhardt focused in the closing laps on the efforts of crew chief Steve Letarte and his team.

“I kept thinking about Steve and the team and how hard we have worked and how we deserved to win, and how we should win, and was hoping it would happen for everybody. That race four years ago was a fuel-mileage race, and today we just whooped them really good. So that felt good.”

Teammate Jimmie Johnson was quick to share in a portion of Earnhardt's long-awaited success. As soon as Sunday's race ended, the five-time Cup champion hustled to victory lane to congratulate his teammate.

“I had to go see him and all his guys,” Johnson said. “We're in the same shop, and his guys work on my car, and my guys work on his car. Seeing those smiling faces made it an awesome trip over there.

“I could just not be more proud of Junior and the dominating win he had today. As a company, we've known the confidence that was growing on that No. 88 team, and having them go on the race track today and kick everybody's butt like they did was pretty awesome.”

Johnson made a move of his own. With a fifth-place finish on Sunday, he climbed to fourth in the Cup standings, 33 points behind leader Matt Kenseth and 29 behind Earnhardt in second.